Painting with John (2021) s01e06 Episode Script

1
JOHN LURIE:
I live on a tiny island.
It's beautiful here.
I ended up here by accident.
I was boxed in.
But it ended up being
one of the best things
that ever happened to me.
And before I lived
where I live now,
I lived up on this hill
where the baby pigs live.
And on the property
was this man, Rudolph
who took care of
a little herd of goats
in the garden.
And they gave him a room,
but he never stayed in the room.
He used to sleep
in the mango trees.
So I had an extra room,
and I gave it to Rudolph.
And he would stop by as the sun
was going down,
and turn on the TV.
And I would paint
while he watched TV.
And if he put on something
really horrible,
I would make him change
the channel.
But he was always fine
with that.
And we would be in this room
together for eight hours,
and not speak a word.
I loved that.
Then Rudolph would say, "John
I have to take a five."
And he would go to sleep
and get up really early
the next morning
and go and take care
of his goats.
After I moved,
Rudolph disappeared.
And he had been talking
about this property
he had up somewhere
that he had inherited,
and he was gonna build
a house there.
But you didn't really believe
that he was gonna do that.
But that's what we assumed
he had done.
And we couldn't reach him.
He didn't have a phone.
There was no way to find him.
Now, it's been years
since I've seen him.
And then one day, Leroy said,
"I saw Rudolph.
I think I know where he lives."
So
we're gonna go and look for him.
There's Nesrin looking all cute.
NESRIN WOLF:
Wow, it's nice here.
LEROY JACOB: It's bottomless.
You want to dive?
JOHN: No, no, no.
The last guy that tried to clean
the lake in the '80s or '70s
-JOHN: Yeah?
-LEROY: One remained.
JOHN: Oh, why?
LEROY: Well, maybe they drink
their rum, having a good time.
-JOHN: And so-- and drowned?
-LEROY: And drowned.
JOHN: And did they get
the dead body out?
LEROY: We still drinking it.
-JOHN: We still
drinking him, yeah.
NESRIN:
It's that deep here, huh?
LEROY: Yeah, bottomless,
you know.
JOHN: This was a volcano,
so I imagine it's--
-NESRIN: Duh. Of course.
-LEROY: Yeah.
-NESRIN: Yes, yes, yes.
-JOHN: Did this ever erupt?
-LEROY: No.
-JOHN: Is this active?
LEROY: It-- No, it's old.
But there is a live one
underwater that's active.
-Really?
-Yeah.
-Sometimes the--
-If it goes off, we'll call you.
-Yeah.
-"Could you pick us up now?"
-Yeah, it had been monitored.
-NESRIN: Yeah.
-The last time, it was on what?
Yellow or, you know,
you have different colors
-when it starts to-- Yeah.
-NESRIN: Mm-hmm. Right.
JOHN: We're gonna see
Rudolph today.
I can feel it.
There's Rudolph
and that's his house.
I'm proud of him.
JOHN: Isn't life strange?
So, that's
that high-pitched thing,
that's mostly tree frogs.
That
And there's two--
they make two sounds,
I think in one gesture,
where one is
to establish territory,
it's the male tree frog,
and the other one is to--
to attract the female.
And the females rarely
make a sound,
but they're attracted to the,
uh
to the
other sound.
And there's a rhythm
to it.
It all makes sense, like, you--
everybody's done it--
you know, sitting out
on the porch
and the crickets
are making sounds,
and there's a
And there's a rhythm to it
and it locks in.
And it's like,
so there's a tree frog there,
a tree frog there, a tree--
(IMITATES TREE FROGS)
But there's anoth-- I mean,
they seem to almost
be call and response,
and answering
(BLOWS) each other.
But if-- if you kind of try
to go along with it,
it always drifts off.
If you just, like, try to sing
along for, uh (
for two bars, you're out
of whack with them already.
Even though it sounds like
they're just going
But they're not.
The pygmies do this music,
and it--
it's just
Oh, it's so beautiful.
And it's so rhythmically right.
But you cannot figure out,
really, where they are.
It's just--
You can't count it, you can't--
And then--
and you have a hard time
getting Western musicians
to play like that,
'cause they get locked
into this thing of counting.
And most people, I mean most
you know, we-- we sort
of count to four in our heads
when we're
exercising or dancing
or whatever,
we sort of--
we have an in-built thing--
one-two-three-four,
one, two--
But it really kind of
ruins something.
It sort of takes away
something beautiful in life,
where you really kind of get
locked into this idea
of, like, bar lines.
Bar lines are like a prison.
'Cause this is so musical
and there's no bar lines.
That's what I think.
This is the section
of our program
where we show you
how the white people dance.
Yeah.
Shall I move on
to another thing?
-ERIK MOCKUS: Mm-hmm.
-That was fine, right?
We can use that?
ERIK: Yeah. Just-- Yeah.
-NESRIN: Yes.
-ERIK: But-- Yes, John!
-NESRIN: Yes.
Very good.
You are so fucked up.
-You are so fucked up.
-NESRIN: That sounded so funny.
-You know
I'm-- I'm doing this show.
-Are we still filming, right?
-ERIK: Yeah,
we're still filming.
I'm doing this show,
and I-- and I--
because I'm-- I'm ill,
I mean
So what we do is
I-- There was this kid--
well, "kid," he's 33--
he came here
you know, and I figure,
well, it's just like--
You know, 'cause I get an hour
or two a day where I'm okay.
And so, like,
in a 24-hour period,
we kind of shoot during
that hour or two that I'm okay.
Except, uh-- and I-- I didn't
you know, didn't know what
a problem this was gonna be,
but I hate this fucking kid.
I can't stand being around him.
And he's--
he's standing right there.
And he's just unbearable.
It's just, like,
when he eats,
the food drips out of his mouth.
-(NESRIN LAUGHS)
-(LAUGHING) You can't laugh.
You can't laugh.
We're making a show here.
And, uh
I don't know.
I suspect he's coming in--
into my bathroom
and using my towels,
and he's covered
with this weird slime
that he puts on himself
in the morning.
I'm trying to get him to laugh,
to see if his camera
will jiggle.
Have you jiggled? You didn't?
I don't--
You know,
I finish a take, you know,
and it's kind of weird talking--
I don't feel comfortable
just talking to a camera,
so, it's, like,
this really weird thing.
And if I do pull this off,
it means I'm a sociopath.
But it's hard for me to sit here
and talking to the camera.
And so I finish, and then,
you know, I want some reaction,
and he's like,
"Yeah, it was okay."
(LAUGHING)
And so that's pretty much
what I get every time.
And-- but he--
and so I need him
to give me a little something
when I'm finished,
or I become even more insecure
than I was when I started.
Except
You know.
But I've told him
all these stories already,
like in-- when we
rehearse the shoot sometimes,
then I do it again,
and so he's heard it, so--
And then I thought,
if we stop telling him
the stories in advance--
And then I'm telling him
this story
and he starts laughing
in the middle,
so the camera's bouncing
up and down.
His name is Erik.
Actually, he's fucking good--
he-- I don't--
Oh, I know what to do.
He hates compliments.
It's been really amazing
working with him, though.
I couldn't have done it
with anybody else.
This kid came down here
and did this with me,
and we pulled this off,
as sick as I've been.
And, uh, we're just
on the same page
about everything.
So, uh
I'm only saying this now,
but we're cutting it out
of the show.
But I just--
I'm just saying it
to make him uncomfortable.
All right, fan, fan,
time for the fan.
Did that hurt?
-ERIK: Yeah.
Hello. This is John's trash.
It's beautiful.
-JOHN: You know
you-- you should try this.
You should get some paints
and some brushes
and some paper.
I mean, watercolor,
it's not expensive.
You don't need a--
just a little tiny pad.
Pick a decent
paper, and paint, and brushes.
And just mess around with it.
And don't expect to make
anything good right away.
Just do it. Just see what
I mean, see what it gives you.
'Cause it's so rewarding.
A-- and
and then, you get good at it
kind of fast, you know.
It's gonna stink
in the beginning.
You're gonna stink
in the beginning, you know.
But what do you expect?
But just mess around with it.
It's just the--
what it gives you,
what the water does,
what the paints do.
It's just fascinating
and really relaxing.
Unless, of course, you expect
you're gonna do something great
right away,
and then,
you're gonna be miserable.
But, uh
just put the paint on the paper,
and see what you have.
I mean, just see what it is.
It's really worth it.
It's better than watching TV.
I mean, that's how--
you know, how I started re--
I mean, I painted all my life,
but not
I got-- I got Lyme,
and I had to give up music.
And all I did
was go to the doctors
and watch Law and Order.
And I had paints and stuff,
and so I would mess around.
But I was only doing it for me.
And then, I had this kind of
eureka moment. It was like
"This could be what music was.
This could give you back
what you lost."
I didn't expect that was going
to ever happen with painting,
but it really did.
And then, this with music.
I mean, painting
with painting,
it's great because
you don't have to talk
to any musicians.
You don't have to explain
to a musician
what a calendar is.
You don't have to
get in a bad mood because
everybody's an hour late.
There's no
I mean, the art world
is disgusting,
so you might wanna
avoid that part.
But just
you know
just get some paint,
mess around with it,
put the color down.
It's good for you.
And don't let anybody see it.
NESRIN: Just look at each other.
That's the best way.
ANN MARY GLUDD JAMES:
Like we did it the last time?
We should-- we should--
we should look angry first.
JOHN: No, look at each other.
-NESRIN: Yeah.
-And then do whatever you want.
Do you mind telling
the people at home
what a good and fair boss I am?
JOHN: That was really good.
I'm gonna ask you,
and then you'll film me asking.
-(NESRIN LAUGHING)
-ANN MARY: Oh, my God.
JOHN: Would you mind telling
the people at home
uh, what a good
and fair boss I am?
Oh, boy.
(LAUGHS)
-(LAUGHING) Look at your face.
-JOHN: So, tell the people
how it is working for me.
-It's good, isn't it?
-Oh, my God.
JOHN: All right,
now film me doing it.
-(BOTH LAUGHING)
-That's the worst thing. I--
Boss should ask another question
because if people see this,
you know,
they'll say,
"He must ha-- he must be
-a terrible boss."
-Terrible person.
-"Like they can't say anything."
-Ann Mary--
Ann Mary, you're right.
ERIK: What's-- what's it like
working for John Lurie?
-NESRIN: Yes, I'm sorry, Erik. Go ahead?
ERIK: What's it like
working for John Lurie?
NESRIN: Look at them--
-Ann Mary, you--
Look at your face.
NESRIN: That's what he say.
ANN MARY:
I'm looking for your reaction.
NESRIN:
Oh, that's a nice expression.
-Oh, my God. We froze this.
-Oh, no, that's so cool.
Like, you can look
at the camera without blinking,
-which I can't do. You can--
-ANN MARY:
It's impossible not to laugh.
-And here comes John.
-ANN MARY: Look at him.
-NESRIN: Uh-huh, he is adorable.
Gotta look angry.
-NESRIN: And look angry.
-Wait, I'll do it. Here I am.
-ANN MARY: Oh, oh, oh,
the angry part--
-NESRIN: What should they do?
-Maybe you should come
and stand in the middle.
-JOHN: Yeah, I'm here.
-And, when he asks the question,
so we both look at you like
Would you mind telling
the people at home
what a good and fair boss I am?
-Now-- now they're good.
-NESRIN: Okay.
-Would you mind--
ANN MARY: You laughing.
Do you mind telling
the people at home
what a good and fair boss I am?
JOHN: You mind telling
the people at home
what a good and fair boss I am?
Oh, you're supposed to crack up.
ANN MARY: I thought you said--
ANN MARY: That's the worst.
-I, uh-- uh--
-JOHN: Uh, uh, uh.
-ANN MARY: Who does that?
-JOHN: I said that?
ANN MARY: I told you.
Hello, and welcome
to Painting with John!